Pena, Welch help Sea Dogs record third straight victory

PORTLAND, Maine —The Portland Sea Dogs used two five-run innings and scored six of their runs with two outs in an 11-2 win over the New Britain Rock Cats Friday night in Double-A baseball action at Hadlock field.

The win marked the third in a row for the Sea Dogs (5-3), the longest streak of the young season.

Portland wasted no time and jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the first inning. Henry Ramos got the scoring going with a two-out RBI double down the line in left that plated Shannon Wilkerson.

The early rally continued when Travis Shaw scored on a wild pitch from New Britain’s Taylor Rogers to make it 2-0. Blake Swihart followed and brought home the third run with a single before Stefan Welch kicked off his huge five-RBI night with a two-run single that made it 5-0 Portland.

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The Rock Cats (3-5) responded with a run against Portland’s Mickey Pena in the top of the second, but that was all they would muster against the left-hander. Former Sea Dog Reynaldo Rodriguez tagged a double to left and scored with two down on an RBI single by Kyle Knudson, which cut the deficit to 5-1.

In the fourth, Wilkerson singled off of Rogers (0-2), stole second and came around to score on an RBI double to right-center off the bat of Deven Marrero.

Pena (1-0) went on to finish the fifth and left with a five-run lead. He gave up the one run on five hits; he walked two and struck out three before Robby Scott entered from the bullpen.

The Sea Dogs finished off their night offensively and doubled the lead to 11-1 with another five-run frame in the seventh. After the first three reached, Henry Ramos hit an RBI single to keep the bases loaded.

Sean Coyle walked to bring in another run in front Welch. The designated hitter took a B.J. Hermsen pitch and put it to the wall in center for a bases-clearing double.

The Sea Dogs and Rock Cats return to Hadlock and square off in game three of the four-game series at 1 p.m. Saturday.